News / Sustainability
Bristol named most eco-friendly city
Bristol is the UK’s number one most environmentally-friendly city, according to new research.
The study gathered data from 70 of the UK’s biggest cities and compiled a list of the top ten. Bristol took the top spot, with Sheffield at number two and Cheltenham coming in third.
The cities’ green credentials were judged on the number of electric vehicle (EV) charging points and littering reports per 100,000 people; average distance to the local park; percentage of waste recycled annually; and monthly online searches of 50 key eco-living terms.
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Even in the centre, residents are on average only 333 metres from a public green space such as Castle Park, according to the research commissioned by Oceans – photo: Martin Booth
Bristol earned first place with the shortest average distance to the nearest park, at 333 metres.
It also claimed the second highest average web search for key terms per month, at 494, with the list including carbon footprint, composting, eco cleaning, ethical fashion, local produce, renewable energy, sustainable travel and zero waste.
On the other end of the scale, Newport reported zero searches of the key terms relating to eco-living in the last 12 months.
The data revealed Bristol’s 47 per cent annual recycling rate, sitting a little way behind Oxford’s 57 per cent and well ahead of Birmingham, with the lowest rate at 21 per cent.
The litter reports metric was used as the best possible estimate of the scale of littering impacting a city with, the study says, ‘the more reports, the more likely it’s getting out of control.’
Bristol’s total of 438 littering reports is considerably lower than Sheffield, the city in the number two spot, but significantly higher than Solihull, Exeter, Cambridge and Reading, the cities that ranked from six to nine.
The city did not fare well on the EV charging point metric, coming in bottom at 34 points per 100,000 people compared to Solihull’s top figure of 317, followed by Milton Keynes at 303 and London at 209.
Overall, Nottingham and Stoke took joint-bottom place on the list, due to low numbers of EV charging points and high incidences of littering.
Community climate action projects which engage residents in climate-related conversations, such as the one conducted in Southmead, could motivate and inspire people to search for eco-living related terms online – photo: Southmead Development Trust
The study was conducted by Oceans, an eco-products and sustainable toilet roll subscriptions service, with a view to determining the city’s most and least likely to eventually become fully sustainable.
They said the analysis showed that generally, the UK’s biggest and most populated cities are better prepared for a transition to net zero emissions.
An Oceans spokesperson continued: “It has become clear that all UK cities have room for improvement in one area or another, whether installing more EV charging points to keep up with demand or implementing more recycling initiatives to increase the amount of waste being sustainably reused.
“We hope this study will highlight the particular areas where cities need to improve and spark action to address these shortfalls in eco-friendly infrastructure.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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